West and Zampella in a rare publicity photo (West is the one on the left)

Update:

And update on Respawn’s website has confirmed the story. The short message from Zampella reads as follows:

‘Jason has left Respawn to take care of some family issues. We have worked together on some amazing accomplishments over the years, starting with an early Segasoft project that never shipped. It is sad to see things come to an end, but there are times when change is best for growth, both personally and professionally.

‘I wish Jason the best and send my best wishes to his family. Respawn continues to amaze me, the team here is resilient and talented. E3 will be therapeutic for us, as we finally get to start showing our work again. I know the team was excited about the response we got from just admitting we were going to attend.’

Original story:

The story of Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella seems to have taken another peculiar turn, with rumours suggesting that West hasn’t worked at the company since last May.

According to website Kotaku he left because of ‘family issues’ and that the split was amicable. Although it’s meant that he’s had no real involvement with Respawn’s first game.

In what is one of the most high profile legal battles in modern gaming history West and Zampella were fired from Call Of Duty creator Infinity Ward in March 2010, as they complained of poor treatment at Activision and the withholding of royalties.

Their exit precipitated an exodus of dozens of Infinity Ward’s top designers, as Activision argued that the pair had used company resources to conspire with EA to set up a new studio.

Although the legal battle that ensued was enough to leak news of Bungie’s Destiny the final resolution was never made public, with the two parties agreeing to an out of court settlement.

That means we’ll probably never know the truth of what happened, although with help from EA the pair did subsequently set up a new studio called Respawn Entertainment. Respawn still hasn’t announced its first game but it has heavily hinted that it will do so at E3 in June.

As of this moment though the only thing that’s ever been shown of their game is a couple of blurry screenshots, although it’s rumoured to be some sort of sci-fi shooter.